Heavenly Father I praise You for creating the universe and our world with truth and rules. I praise You that these guardrails help us to live without chaos. I praise You for Christ living among us and teaching the disciples, who in turn taught the early church the foundation of the hope that springs from our salvation.
Christ said to His disciples, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know.” [John 14:1-4] We will all die unless we are living when Christ returns. All of us, sinner, saint, and all in between, will stand before God and be judged. We will live after death either with Christ or without Christ. Heaven or Hell. Through salvation and through the resurrection, when Christ had retrieved the keys of hell [hades if you will], death is just the transfer of life we know now to eternity. My hope is grounded in the gift of salvation I accepted at the age of 16 and have served as well as I can with the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit to know that I will stand before God with my sins paid for and be truly an adopted child in eternity.
The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:10-15&18